35thstreetswarm

It's settled. I'm going to stop watching the worthless Sox tear up the league and start looking forward to Hahn-free, sub-.500 Hawks and Bulls seasons. And I must say it was so nice to watch the Cubs during our series last month: there was just something so...ACCOUNTABLE about the the way they got their asses kicked all over the field.

Sounds like everyone's circling separately around the prongs of the same two-part answer: a) yes, from a legacy/team morale/merchandising perspective but b) likely no (and maybe even a detriment) from a playoff seeding perspective.

Every time I think about how we’ll have to scrape together a rotation to help this dynamic offense in the playoffs I can’t help but get really annoyed with Kopech. This season is such a perfect opportunity for him to contribute to something special. His team needs him; he’s not here. I’m really not accustomed to finding myself on what’s considered the “meatball” end of the fan spectrum, but here we are.

Sign me up for whatever gets us a first round date with Toronto.

It's useful to remember that two weeks ago we were just removed from the the "most embarrassing double header sweep in MLB history," and the Sox were garbage. Now some are upset we didn't push in our chips to fuel a World Series run. Things change more quickly and dramatically than most are willing to admit, and in both directions. I admit I got caught up in the excitement of landing a TOR starter for a playoff run, but it's probably best not to base any major , franchise-altering decisions on short snippets of a weird COVID season anyway. "Stay the course" is boring, but it's the wise approach here.

I’m really leery of weakening future teams to juice up this year and next—I’d be REALLY nervous if the freaking Dodgers were in our division. What is the “it” they’re going for right now? Overtaking The Dodgers? Not seeing it. Sorry, I don’t mean to interrupt the Friar Fellating

So our division rival’s rotation is weakened and we didn’t lose any of our top-level assets? Score

Man, I was hoping to wake up to posts about new Sox players and instead it’s just 10 pages of posts about other posters...oh well

Probably that, plus punching a teammate, plus dating reality stars...plenty of yellow flags for that guy.

Thank you. This guy is an absolute cornerstone. He’s more off limits than Madrigal or even Cease in my mind.

I’m slowly warming to the idea of Lynn, even at a cost of a Dunning or another premium piece. Everybody talks about the risk to 2022, but this team looks to have a bit of The Magic. You can’t take that lightly. There’s risk in not maximizing your chances in any season where you have a shot. Look at the Cubs—2015 looked like a “year early” gravy season. It wasn’t—it turned out it was one of their two best shots at a WS. All that said, don’t trade Kopech ?

I demand we win every game by at least three runs and with error-free play. You know, like the *really* good teams all do.

Even harder question - what do I do with my custom Drake Laroche Spring Training jersey?

Cub fans in mid-August 2020 be like "Ooh, Congratulations, Sox: you're just beating up on the Tigers." ?

"...and all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds!"

You're making a different point. I'm not saying "winning trades" is more important than winning the World Series (who would ever say that?) I'm talking about the question of whether, in retrospect, the Chapman trade was strictly necessary to win the World Series, i.e. could they have won without him. Maybe yes, maybe no, we'll never know -- though it's interesting to debate.

It's part of the picture, but it doesn't answer the question by itself. No trophy is big enough to erase the correlation/causation fallacy, or to eliminate the usefulness of interrogating actual evidence. I get why fans probably don't care to use much mental energy second-guessing decisions made during a season that ended the way they wanted. But there's a reasonable debate to be had about whether every event in that season was actually the "but-for" cause of the title.

Thank you. This “well, they won so it worked” story is too-easily-accepted conventional wisdom.

Eclipsing the Twins (winning the division) will help them eclipse the Cubs (winning the battle for the city/fans/media). Let's do both!

The coolest thing about both teams is that they both are full of players, and all of them have names. I just love seeing, reading, and typing them!

Real talk—is what we’re doing to the Cubs bullying? I’m just saying, maybe we shouldn’t be laughing

Boo. Talk with your butt. Poop with your mouth Go Sox!

Delighted to have been wrong about the bullpen. I had little confidence in it but I'm starting to get excited. Keep it up!

That's a totally measured and reasonable approach. Get that sh*t out of here

I know—was joking/doesn’t come through in text form. But the answer will always be 66-62 to me. I’m giving nothing away!